Short distance sprinters will never agree with the Bible verse of Ecclesiastes 9:11 that the race is not for the swift.
Even a long distance runner must put some swiftness and resilience at the closing end of the race to win the gold or else he or she will be overtaken.
It is their limbs that run the race but it is their heads that count the winners. That is the irony of human race on this formation we call earth.
From Favour Ofili, Nigerian female 100mtr sprinter who could not participate due to management error and her failure to win a medal in the 200mtr despite her performance in the heat and the failure of our medal hopeful in hurdles, Tobi Amusan, Nigeria may be heading home with no medals.
Offlili’s heat performance in 200 mtr was scintillating but her head chose lane nine at the final race where she came sixth.
The American 100 mtr record holder Noah Lyles believed so much in his legs but his head did not favour him in the 200mtr where Letsile Tebogo of Botswana beat him to the third place to clinch the Paris 2024, Olympic gold medal.
Tebogo shamed the arrogance of Lyles who had thought the 100 and 200 races were made for him. Where his legs were swift, his head refused to work for him. It was gathered that two days to the race, Lyles was tested positive for COVID-19.
Have you noticed that each sprinter throws his head forward at the finish line because it is the head that counts not the legs.
The legs can beat the finish line as the first but the one whose head shows up first is counted winner.
Tobi Amusan said after his last heat that this Olympic was her season after training so hard, coming first in her last heat that qualified her for the semis but unfortunately she came third and failed to qualify for the final.
This is unlike the Nigeria’s D’Tigress that came to this tournament as underdogs but surprised the whole world by beating Australia and Canada, two of the sixth best ranked basketball teams in the world.
No, the team did not win any medal, it only won the hearts of the basketball world.
The captain of the Canadian side, Natalie Achonwa, broke into tears that after months of training, the team could not qualify from the group stage but the underrated Nigeria.
Nigeria defeated Australia (World No. 3 ranked team) and Canada (World No. 5 ranked team) to become the first African team to play in an Olympics quarterfinal.
D’Tigress became best ever finish by an African team (male or female) at the Olympics and moved from 12th to 8th position in FIBA Women’s World Ranking.
FIBA said that the performance of D’Tigress will live in the memory of the association for a long time to come.
This is about “Ori’, the inner head, which matters in whatever we do. Of course, there are people who always think that their achievements were a result of their brilliance or preparation, there is also the place of grace, which is synonymous with “Ori Inu”.
“Ori la ba sin, ka fi Orisa sile. Ori Eni, ni Awure Eni. Ori mi ba mi se, emi o le da se.” Olympics is a festival of sports, however it defines life as it captures the race by every individual to succeed.
Those who spent more time, more money and get more competence but then could not win anything. It reflects the elements of grace, luck and hardwork and speaks to our real endeavours as human being.
The legs walk our heads to where to go but the head chooses for the legs. Ori mi gbe mi.
